Hamas Katyusha rockets critically wound 2 Israelis in Ashdod, kill Bedouin "Zionist" in Ashkelon

According to the Hamas Web site, Hani al Mahdi, a Bedouin from the village of Aroer, was a "Zionist" that they killed. Media generally repeat that Palestinian rockets do not kill anyone, which is untrue. Low fatalities from the 5,000 rockets and thousands of mortar shells are due to Israeli civil defense measures. Before there was a warning system there were several fatalities. Fatalities will climb if the problem is not handled, because Hamas are now using regular army ordnance - combat weapons - not home made rockets, and their range and accuracy is "improving."

 

 

Last update - 21:53 29/12/2008       
Two Israelis critically hurt as rocket fired from Gaza hits Ashdod
By Amos Harel and Yanir Yagna, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service, and Reuters

Two Israeli civilians were critically wounded on Monday evening as a Katyusha rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a bus stop in Ashdod, some 35 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.

 

Three people were lightly hurt in the attack.

 

Hamas missiles first hit near Ashdod on Sunday. Monday's attack marked the first time the city suffered casualties from missiles, as Israel concluded a third day of aerial assaults on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
 
The Katyusha attack came hours after 27-year-old Israeli construction worker Hani al Mahdi, from the Bedouin village of Aroer, was killed in a rocket attack in Ashkelon.

 

Fourteen people were wounded in the attack on Ashkelon, as the rocket exploded near a construction site in the coastal town.

 

Most of the victims were construction workers from the Galilee village of Manda and the Bedouin town of Rahat. Five were considered in serious condition, four sustained moderate wounds, and five suffered light injuries.

 

The man who was killed was named as 27-year-old construction worker Hani al Mahdi, from the Bedouin village of Aroer.

 

Curious onlookers gathered at the scene despite the Home Front Command's directive to avoid loitering in groups outdoors.

 

At least 60 rockets have been fired into Israel since Monday morning. Several of the rockets hit Ashkelon, while others struck Sderot and other rocket weary communities in the western Negev. One home in Sderot sustained a direct hit. Channel 2 reported that the residents of the home have been treated for shock.

 

"I'm standing next to the body," Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin told Israel Radio by telephone on Monday. "To my great regret, we have a fatality. He was killed."

 

Sirens wailed intermittently on Monday morning in Ashkelon as television crews captured footage of panicked residents seeking cover from the incoming projectiles.

 

On Sunday, Gaza-based Palestinians launched a barrage of at least 40 rockets at the western Negev on Sunday, as the Israel Air Force continued to bomb targets in the Strip.

 

Two Katyusha rockets, with a diameter of 122 mm, exploded near Ashdod on Sunday. More than 30 kilometers from Gaza, this was the deepest into Israel a Palestinian rocket has yet to strike.

 

The Katyushas, which are the most improved versions of the Palestinian rockets, have a range of up to 40 kilometers. The particular rockets that struck on Sunday traveled 37 and 35 kilometers.